Superman With Learning Difficulties
by kidficfan
Summary: AU based around the idea that Clark had learning difficulties and autism, how would J and M cope and how would they raise a super powered man with the mind of a child, it takes a hero to raise a hero


Martha and Jonathan had adopted Clark when he was just three years old, they had found him unconscious in a corn field and no one had reported him missing so they were allowed to adopt him, after the first year he had not spoken and he had not met many milestones that toddlers should have met, he was still in diaper s, couldn't hold a cup, feed, dress or walk properly. At five they had him tested, Clark was diagnosed with medium severity autism and would have special educational needs all of his life. This follows his early life and how he battled to prove doctors wrong and fulfil l his destiny to become Superman.

Clark aged 5

Jonathan would wake up at 5 and get to work on farm chores. Martha would wake at 6:15 when she would wake up her son, change his diaper and dress him for the day, then she would carry him down the stairs which he still had problems with and sit him on the couch to watch telly or flip through a picture book whilst Martha got the breakfast ready, she always finish as Jonathan walked through the door, it was strange but it happened.

Jonathan would wash his hands and sit down at the table with his wife and son, they spent breakfast trying to teach him words and general family chit chat. After breakfast Clark would usually be demanding a change of diaper and Jonathan would do this whilst Martha washed up. In the morning Martha would spend her time with Clark watching sesame street teaching him to read and write, progress was very slow and at times non existent due to his quick temper, easy frustration and in ability to hold a pencil roughly how it was meant to be held, they worked with larger pencils, they tried general play gripping things but generally Clark would be happier to finger paint or work out sums for Martha. He loved to count and would grab all of his books and toys off his shelf if left on hi own too long, line them up in a straight line on the landing and count them. Due to his autism he would line anything up that he could get his hands on.

After the morning Clark would have a nap at 12 until 2 when Jonathan would make sure he was in and they would all have PB and J sandwiches, a bag of potato chips and an apple, this was the only lunch Clark would eat and would only eat it if Martha and Jonathan did too. After lunch Martha would change Clark again, load him into the truck and drive into town where she would load Clark into his stroller and occasionally shop but mostly take Clark around meeting people and get him used to other people being around him, for about 9 months this was painful as he screamed and became scared around others, but the doctors assured Martha this was the only way to help Clark get over being scared of other people and make it easier for him as he got older.

After this she would drive home and Clark would go through the afternoon routine with Jonathan which would be to collect the eggs, collect the hay, feed the cows, fix the fences and then return to Martha for dinner for 6 o'clock, dinner was always troublesome as Clark refused to try new foods, hated touching food and could not feed himself so was fed by Martha or Jonathan and if he did not feel like eating or was tired he could end up pitching a fit. After dinner Martha and Jonathan would bath Clark, read him a bed time story and kiss him goodnight before going back downstairs at 8 o'clock.

It was stressful having Clark in their lives but they loved him more than anything, it was worth it, he was improving day by day, they knew it!

Clark at 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10

At six Clark still had his routine in place and lunch was the same but his Maths had furthered so much he was more able than some 9 year olds at maths and Martha could do more and more difficult topics with him everyday, they had given up hopes of him learning to read and write so instead he was learning things he would need in life. These were things such as science, basic hygeine, how to swim in the summer at Crater lake and how to help out on the farm without breaking anything, he was far too strong for his age and could lift the truck if he got his grip right. Martha was also taking him to kindergarten one morning a week to get used to the classroom environment and although they were a couple of years younger than him they were all much more able than him and Martha knew that this would not improve, she sat with him so that she could help him and he took part in many different subjects over the year including, music, art and science, frequently though Martha would have to take him home part way through the lesson because he would get frustrated, angry and pitch fits. The other children and the staff were used to him by now and they left without fuss now.

Clark at 11, 12, 13

At 11 Clark had lost the rages he used to have, he could control his abilities of his super speed and super strength, he knew not to use them in public and he was very gentle with other people, he now had a fixed routine of farm work and still went to school two afternoons a week in the second grade where he could be taught with other children, although Martha was happy to leave him now the school did not allow it and asked that until Clark was toilet trained they would not be able to care for him without Martha's presence.

At 12 Clark wrote his name for the first time and then started copying out words that he saw in books. Martha was overjoyed and left his maths and other lessons for everyday reading and writing. By the time he was 13 Clark could read at a second grade level and write at a first grade level.

Clark at 14

At fourteen Clark's yearly check up found that his bladder control had changed considerably since the last year and he would be able to be toilet trained now. This was great news as Jonathan had applied to Smallville high school to get Clark a place as soon as he turned 15. They wanted him to go but knew that he could not attend unless they binned the diaper.

Today was the day they were going to do it, they stopped the morning lessons and turned that into play time, Clark still loved to play with building blocks and toy cars, he was occupied by the simplest of things. When Martha woke Clark up that morning she cleaned him up and put him in a pair of underwear, Clark was mega confused by this and asked continually for his diaper s back, Martha took his hand and led him to the bathroom where she made him sit on the toilet. He sat there for five minutes but nothing happened. She helped him put his sweat pants back on and sat him at the table eating his breakfast when Martha noticed first the sound of dripping, then the smell of Clark's first accident, she cleaned him up, put him in a pair of boxers and sat him on the toilet. Over the course of the next week Clark had a few accidents but they became less and less until Saturday arrived and he managed to have no accidents over Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. They had done it. Next year Clark would be able to start school for the first time in his life.

Clark started going to third grade classes more and more, and at 14 ½ he was able to go to third grade every afternoon after he had a nap which he still needed. At 14 he was as tall as the class teacher but was now at a third grade level so he was working at a level where he was no less or more able than the other kids and they were completely used to Clark and no one made comments, he even went round to their houses a couple of times, their parents adored Clark he was so cute and cuddly, bright as a button and not afraid to share smile with everyone.

Third grade was great for Clark and even when he had the occasion accident the teacher would just send him to the office where Martha had loaded a draw full of Clark's spare clothes. They would clean him up bag his stuff up and send him back to class.

Clark at 15

At fifteen Clark started high school, over the summer Martha and Jonathan worked tirelessly morning till night from when Clark woke up in the morning until Clark went to bed counting, reading everything in sight, writing, spelling and by the end of the summer Clark was doing maths at a college level, reading at a third grade level and writing at a third grade level, he had suddenly improved far beyond anyone ever thought he would.

The first day was hard for Martha and Jonathan, they got him dressed because he had problems with buttons, packed him a lunch and took him to school, Martha and Jonathan kissed there son goodbye when they dropped him off at school and Martha cried, her little boy was growing up. Clark was met at the door by his new guides who would help him around and help him out in his lessons they were Chloe Sullivan a girl interested in everything about his condition, why he had only just started school and his whole life, Pete was just giving him tips about talking to girls and getting a date, Clark would not be doing this though he though girls were gross, they had cooties after all.

Martha had an appointment with the principle to discuss Clark's needs. She told him of his progress and informed him that Clark sometimes had accidents and was very quiet in a classroom situation so teachers would need to keep an eye out for any problems because he would refuse to put his hand up. With that she left him with a suitcase full of clothes for Clark and was assured that this would be given to the nurse who would change him if he had any problems. She was happy with this and returned to the farm safe in the knowledge that her son would be looked after.

Clark loved his new school, he had Chloe and Pete helping him in his English lessons, because they were the most able kids in his year. He did grow frustrated when they were talking about things that he didn't understand but when his teacher stopped talking he was given his own work which he could get on with, it hard but it was something which he could do. Chloe also proved helpful in his Maths lesson when he couldn't read the questions written in the book he was working from. When he did understand it he could do it easily which surprised Chloe who expected him to find the work far too hard to even attempt. When afternoon came around Chloe had to leave him and Pete came back as they were in the same Science class. Problems arose mid way through the lesson when Clark needed to use the restroom but didn't want to alert anyone to this problem, he started writhing and sitting on his foot and grabbing and holding himself when Pete finally asked if he was OK. Pete told the teacher of Clark's problem and he was allowed to leave to relieve himself which he did and returned to his lesson where he was able to concentrate better and completed his lesson.

The rest of the week went as well as his first day and he even found somewhere to hang out during his free periods, he would sit in Chloe's office where she wrote the school newspaper, they had a white board there and Clark would find complicated maths problems on the internet and try to solve them on her whiteboard. The first major problem he had arose whilst doing this, the problem he was working on was solved too quickly and seeing as Pete and Chloe were both in gym class which he was excused from when Martha realised that he might not know how to control his powers when competing with others. This left Clark on his own and seeing the sight of Chloe's office so unorganised he grew stressed and managed to get all of her books onto the floor and line them up so that they formed a line from the desk along the corridor and stopped when he ran out of books. He then took he wall of weird posts off the wall and repined them so that there was no overlapping and there were no gaps, with the rest of the articles into the bin because there was no more room for things, this is what his mother had done when he was younger and tried to pin too many maths problems and answers onto his pin board at home.

When Chloe came back she was livid with him, her diary was being read by some jock in the corridor, the rest of her books were lying in the hallway and her wall of weird posters were in the bin, Clark was on the couch taking his daily nap when she came back. She was not taking this any more, he may not be able to read or write properly but he must have known that this would annoy her. She shook him until he blinked sleepily up at her she exploded 'Clark Kent, what on earth are you trying to pull, ruining my books, binning my wall of weird, who do you think you are, I let you use this office for naps, not to destroy my life, now get out and don't come back...ever.' Clark burst into tears and ran out of the office towards the exit doors, 'he was sobbing heavily and hiccuping, she tried to chase him when she realised her mistake but she was too late.

She visited the principals office as soon when Clark did not return for afternoon Maths which they were meant to have that afternoon, Clark never missed maths even when he was upset he would never miss maths, it was his all time favourite. The first thing the principal did when he realised Clark had not been in school for two hours and no one at school had seen him was to ring his parents. Martha was sobbing over the phone, Chloe knew that much. She could also hear her, Clark had not gone home, he should have been home ages ago if he had gone there from school. At exactly 5:03pm after the principal and other staff who had worked with Clark alongside his parents and their family friends were out searching fields, woods, lakes and the entirety of the places where Clark had been throughout his life and where he had felt most safe they called in the police. At 7:26pm the search was finished, Clark had been found. He was found by police by Crater lake. He was pale, shivering, it was clear he had vomited and he was rocking back and forth and would not let anyone touch him getting violent whenever any of the officers tried to get near him, his parents were called and after a firm refusal to let paramedics see to him Clark was taken home, he fell asleep in the truck on the way back but after a sandwich he was given a bath and put to bed with his parents reading him a story just like always.

The next day an emergency meeting was called. Clark was taken to school and sat in reception whilst his Mother, Father, his teachers, the principal, Chloe and Pete discussed his future.

His mother wanted to take him out of school and was tearful throughout after Clark had completely withdrawn from communicating with anyone at all and was almost back in incontinence pants. He was at with the receptionist behind the desk of the office colouring a colouring book as they spoke and looking gloomy. Chloe was finally dismissed from the meeting to apologise to Clark, she did this but still Clark was still clearly upset. Part way through the receptionist came in to inform them that Clark had wet himself and could they come and change him. Martha left to do this, after stripping him of his pants and calming him from hysterical crying so soft sobbing and hiccupping down in the female toilets. He told Martha then and there that he wanted to go back to school and he was really sorry for running off and for touching Chloe's stuff. She redressed him and took him back to the receptionist holding his hand. She settled him with the receptionist again who gave him a sucker and he continued colouring, this time with a smile on his face showing them his drawings every couple of minutes and asking them questions.

In the meeting Martha and Jonathan were now holding court with instructions on many different strategies of coping with Clark's behaviour and key details they felt they needed to know about Clark's habits and things that he could not not help and how to deal with these when they occur and when behaviours that they should pick up on and how to deal with those, they also promised to write them down so that everyone who came into contact with their son knew what to do when problems arose.

Clark went home for the day after that and Chloe was left feeling empty without Clark who seemed to make her life complete, he depended on her so much and she loved it.

The next day Clark came to school and Martha handed the principal information about Clark, this was taken and distributed to his teachers and he was settled back into school without fail. The next month though saw Clark crying in his loft at lunch time and his mother and father both trying to calm him down, eventually he fell asleep but his father was fuming and left for the school. It had started just before lunch and before Clark's first free period, their teacher had exited after ten minutes of their lesson not feeling well and a supply had been drafted in from the teachers lounge to take over. After a few minutes, Clark started grabbing himself, it was English and they were meant to be writing quietly when Chloe asked him if he needed the bathroom and he had nodded quite urgently. Th teacher had started shouting at Chloe and asking what the problem was, when she heard a student had to use the restroom she was strict and said no. Clark was about to protest when she looked at his work. She commented that his work looked like it had been scribbled by a five year old and had completed absolutely nothing that he had been asked to do. Chloe tried to defend him and others looked in shock as they knew Clark had problems and all looked absolutely horrified when she ordered him to the front of the lass to read a page from the novel that they were working on which was a difficult novel for anyone to read let alone Clark. He went to the front of the class and managed to sound out the first few words of the words before a darkening started to appear on the front of his trousers and spread down his legs a puddle started forming on the floor.

Clark started crying and as Chloe got up to comfort him when the teacher told him to stop acting like such a baby and that he should be in kindergarten. At this point he ran out of class and past the principal and ran home where he sat in his loft and had stayed there ever since.

At the point where he ran out Chloe had shouted at the supply telling her that Clark was severely autistic and this was his first year at school at which point she looked extremely sorry and dismissed the class.

When Clark had ran out of school he had ran past the principal who was on his way to see how Clark was getting on with the supply teacher.

Clark had been sent back to school the next day to continue his studies but was certainly a lot quieter than before.

Clark aged 16

Clark at aged 16 was quiet and unsure of himself. The beginning of the new school year and Martha and Jonathan took the teachers for their teacher education day before school started again to explain what to expect of their son and to inform them of new strategies the doctors had him work on over summer to help him with his emotions. It was also so that new staff who hadn't met Clark before could meet him and Clark would not feel too nervous on his first day back. The day was a success with Clark colouring and playing with his toys in the corner whilst Martha and Jonathan did a great job explaining everything about their son to a room full of teachers.

The start of the year was good and Clark had settled back into his routine with ease. He was now regarded well enough to be asked to go on a trip with the school to the coast where they were going to stay residentially for three days whilst they studied the formation of rocks in canyons for Geography. Jonathan of course had to accompany him but he was there as one of the male chaperones. The trip did not go without problems but it did help Clark to grow up a little bit.

The chaperones were all sat at the front when Jonathan was alerted to the first problem.A boy came up to him and told him that Clark was crying, he went to his sons seat to find him staring out of the window crying, after a few hugs and a few tickles from Jonathan, Clark had revealed he had wet himself and Jonathan had gone back to his seat before they stopped. Clark had been changed by Jonathan when they stopped and then immediately went to the gist shop to play with all the cool toys, once he had got back on the bus Jonathan had asked Clark if he had used the restroom after their 30 minutes stop, he said No, so Jonathan escorted him off the bus and held his hand and took him into the bathroom, making sure he did something before getting him resettled on the bus on a seat which had been covered.

After being on the bus for three hours Clark was starting to get bored and as it was almost 12 Jonathan sat with him, read him a story, covered him in a blanket and settled his son into a nap. When Jonathan woke his son for another stop he had had another accident and worried his son would run out of clothes before they got to their destination put him in a diaper which Clark immediately loved. He was happy for the rest of the trip and coloured in his book and drew pictures for all his friends which they pretended to love.

The trip was great and although Clark did not get to join in with as much as the other kids he was always exhausted at the end of the day, Clark shared his room with a few of the other boys and they stayed across the hallway from Mr Kent so when Jonathan put Clark to bed at 8:30 in the evening after giving him a bath, they always hung out in his room which had a telly and watched football with some brews, Jonathan wished he could have done this with Clark but Clark wouldn't sit still long enough and always complained that he wanted to watch sesame street.

All the boys thought Mr Kent was well cool, for having an autistic son he was so much cooler than any of their parents, playing football with them, letting them into his room after hours to have a sneaky beer, watching football and joking about with them at the back of the bus when Clark slept. When Clark was awake he was just like the parent of a toddler, cutting up his food for him, hugging him, praising with that little kid voice, changing his wet trousers and telling him off when he started tantrums and for being badly behaved.

They all had massive amounts of respect for Mr Kent, when they got back he had completely snogged the face off his wife and Clark had cried seeing his mother for the first time in days. The family went off in their truck back to the farm and that was the end of their visit.

After the Christmas holidays when they all went back to school things changed, Chloe and Pete were no longer n all of his classes and most of the time he was left to fend for himself whilst they prepared for exams, his classwork seemed to have levelled off and he was becoming more and more isolated, that was until he was given a new special teacher, his name was Lex and he was working voluntarily with autistic students in order to improve himself. Clark liked Lex and although Lex still wasn't used to the boy who could only be described as a toddler in a man's body he felt as though he was making a difference. Clark was still withdrawn though and his parents, Lex, his teachers and his principal were all very worried about him, he would without fail have an accident a day, he would get frustrated quickly and gave up so easily. The only thing he enjoyed was Lex. To cure this the doctors gave Clark an emotion holder so he had a selection of different pictures showing him happy, sad, angry, tired, needing the toilet, stuck, excited and a multitude of others which sat in front of Lex whilst he worked. As soon as his emotion changed he changed the picture and this could alert the teacher of any problems which were occurring and meant that the teachers could excuse Clark for a nap or to use the restroom or to help him with his work.

This worked very well and something else spectacular happened, after the success of Clark's first trip away the Kents went on their first ever family holiday leaving friends in charge of the farm and packing up the truck and heading to the middle of nowhere. It was a huge field, no people, no shops, just them in the wilds, Martha had packed enough food and Jonathan had even brought tools to chop fire wood. The Kent's enjoyed it but Clark felt uncomfortable, there were no toilets, this was on purpose. The Kent's had noticed something very peculiar about their son, he refused to strand up to pee, this weekend was their chance to do this, that was how Jonathan remembered being trained when younger so they went with that. Whenever Clark needed to pee he was allowed to do it aiming at any tree he wanted, he took a lot of convincing at first but when his father had demonstrated and his mother had praised him for doing it once, which had been a complete accident he would use trees constantly.

Unfortunately this came with side effects, in his lessons Clark was allowed to sit at the back of the room all the time and when Lex and the other children were engrossed in what the teacher was saying lark had stood up, pulled his trousers and boxers right down and peed in the corner of the room into a pot plant. Needless to say Martha and Jonathan were embarrassed and had several long talks with him about this.

With all his problems though Clark had managed to make friends and his friends took care of him very well, taking him out with them to concerts, the talon and to their houses at weekends, they made sure he took naps, made sure he was fed and taken to the bathroom and when he slept at their houses he was put to bed before 9. Jonathan and Martha could finally relax about their son or so they thought. Every year one kid was put in a cornfield to be 'the scare crow' this year Clark had been chosen, the football team chose him and after discovering he had a bit of a crush on Lana Lang his next door neighbour put her meteor necklace on him and tied him up in the middle of a cornfield.

This happened when he was taking his nap in the torch office, Chloe came in and was shocked to not see Clark but assumed he must have taken it elsewhere today because sometimes he would fall asleep in his lessons and be left there or in the teachers lounge, the principals office or in reception where he could be kept an eye on. The first she knew of his disappearance was at around 2.

The principal was checking on all the classes and noticed that Clark was not in his lesson, thinking he was still napping and should make his way to class the principal looked for Clark everywhere and could not find him, he asked for Chloe Sullivan to come to his office because as his best friend she would know where he is. He was wrong neither him or Peter Ross knew where he was, he rang Clark's parents and they had not seen him either. The principal was yet again gathering a search team in order to find the boy. All classes where asked whether they had seen him and the last known sighting of him was at around 1 when he had visited the bathroom apparently after his nap. This was disastrous the police were informed and everyone in town was looking for him, unknown to them he was hanging off a stake in the middle of a cornfield, wheezing, shaking, cold and upset.

At nine in the evening he had still not been found and he was lipping into unconsciousness, the Kent's were frantic with worry and the principal was livid for letting this happen, he just hadn't been paying enough attention to the boy. It was ten o'clock when he was finally discovered by Lex who took him down, his necklace fell off and he fell to the ground re-energised. He immediately jumped up and tried to run home, Lex tried to insist that he go to a hospital but he refused and ran home to his parents who were more than happy to see him, his mother had held his face in her hands and told him how much they loved him and Jonathan had ran everyone to tell them that Clark had been this years scarecrow.

The principal expelled the boys and kept a much closer eye on Clark after that.


End file.
